7 Takeaways From ‘The Trojan Horse Affair’ Podcast
Community officers understood about the dispute and experienced discredited important promises in the letter
In 2013, right before the Trojan Horse letter appeared, the Birmingham Metropolis Council commissioned its possess investigation into the dispute at Adderley. In the report, investigators concluded that the Adderley assistants’ resignation letters experienced been “falsified,” introducing that “in the absence of any proof to the contrary, it is reasonable to conclude that Mrs. Darr may have been involved in the fabrication of the resignation letters.”
This report contradicted essential promises later on produced in the Trojan Horse letter, particularly that there was a plot to oust the head trainer at Adderley. The Council’s investigators did not uncover a plot towards Mrs. Darr. In the report, they speculate she may have been the a single plotting to oust her colleagues — and, crucially, applying phony letters to do it.
The secretary for training experienced been instructed the letter was “bogus” — just before it went community
Mr. Reed and Mr. Syed received assembly minutes displaying that Michael Gove, the secretary of point out for training, was explained to in a personal meeting that the counterterrorism law enforcement experienced identified that the letter was “bogus.”
“There is a significant believability gap about the document,” a representative for the Birmingham City Council wrote in a briefing take note shared with Mr. Gove. “The doc contains significant factual inaccuracies and, in a quantity of places, contradictions.”
The briefing observe mentioned auditors experienced occur to “a crystal clear view that there was no basis” to a number of allegations in the letter. Even so, Mr. Gove went on to cite the letter as a reason for sweeping intervention in Birmingham educational institutions and adjustments to nationwide schooling policy. He also dealt with Parliament about the letter, proclaiming it represented a legit menace.
The authorities however employed the letter’s debunked statements as evidence of an Islamist plot
In 2013, practically one year just after the dispute at Adderley Key Faculty started, two of Mrs. Darr’s shut colleagues stepped forward and claimed to have witnessed Mrs. Darr open the resignation letters. Mr. Reed and Mr. Syed found no mention of these witnesses just before this second.
The belated witness statements cast doubt on the Council’s report that had pointed the finger at Mrs. Darr for opportunity forgery of the letters. The Council later on retracted the report and supplied authorized protection for Mrs. Darr’s school. (The Council later threatened to get an injunction against Mr. Reed and Mr. Syed barring them from utilizing the report in the sequence.)